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Top Judiciary, Homeland, & CBC Dems on Trump’s Call to End the Diversity Visa Program

President is Using NYC Tragedy to Demonize Immigrants

Nov 1, 2017

Press Release

(WASHINGTON) Today, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), Committee on Homeland Security Ranking Member Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Chairman Cedric Richmond (D-LA), CBC Second Vice Chair and Co-Chair of the CBC Task Force on Foreign Affairs and National Security Karen Bass (D-CA), and CBC Member-At-Large and Chair of the CBC Immigration Working Group Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY), issued the following joint statement regarding President Donald Trump’s announcement to ask Congress to end the Diversity Visa program:

“President Donald Trump is politicizing a national tragedy to further his anti-immigrant agenda. Falling back on nativist anti-immigrant rhetoric in the wake of terror attacks will not make us safer. Responsible governance requires making informed policy decisions based on facts. The facts show that the Diversity Visa Program was created on a bipartisan basis and signed into law by President George H. W. Bush, and subjects recipients to the same stringent vetting as all other immigrant visa programs. The program promotes American ideals and goodwill, including ensuring that individuals from low immigration countries have some chance at the American Dream. Trump is using this tragedy to again demonize immigrants and seek to close America’s doors. This is not who we are as a Nation.”